The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c21.87

c21.87

The Fourteen Rock Edicts contain an exposition of Asoka's principles of government and ethical system, each edict being devoted to a special subject. The different recensions vary considerably, and some do not include all the fourteen edicts. The whole series, in all its varieties, is confined to remote frontier provinces, which were under the government of viceroys. The emperor evidently was of opinion that in the home provinces, under his immediate control, it was not necessary to engrave his instructions on the rocks, other and more convenient methods of publication being available. But many years later he perpetuated his revised code in the home provinces also by incising it upon several of the monolithic monumental pillars which it was his pleasure to erect in numerous localities.¹ The difficulty of obtaining the fine sandstone needed for the pillars may account for the fact that the area of their distribution is much smaller than that of the rock-inscriptions.